Meet Nancy Carol Sanker

She's been a trailblazer in the fight against Childhood and Adult
Asthma, now Nancy Carol Sanker joins the Asthma Connections
Community.

Sometimes thing go full circle. Or is it full
square, when you occasionally get stuck in a corner of life? Circle
or square, the center of my life was my battle with severe
asthma.

I grew up during an era when managing asthma was an extremely
difficult task. This was before inhalers or peak-flow meters were
available. Asthma patients and their loved ones, paid a high
price.

Physical Education classes were dreaded, so reading became my
refuge. Books provided an escape to the constant humiliation of
being selected last for team sports. In the minds of children,
uncontrolled wheezing spelled out L-O-S-E. Night after night I
slept sitting up in a chair to avoid uncontrolled bouts of
coughing. It was a time when moving to Arizona meant possible
relief, so my Dad sold the family business in Cincinnati, packed
his family of four into a station wagon and headed West.

Ultimately, we returned to Cincy and good health was
mine. I married my college sweetheart, graduated from Colorado
State University, worked as a Registered Occupational Therapist and
enjoyed parenting our daughter. Heres where the circle
continues; we were fortunate to have a son, but it was his
misfortune to develop asthma and food allergies at six months of
age.

We searched for answers, joked that one of the doors at the
doctors office should have a brass plaque with our names on
it and bargained with God during emergency trips to the hospital at
midnight. At a time of true desperation we hoped that the double
rainbows that appeared over the Colorado mountains were
reassurances that he would be OK. The effective combination of
medications was discovered and they were right.

I vowed to share my newfound, hard-won wisdom with others and
founded a support group in Ft. Collins. The Asthma and Allergy
Foundation of America (AAFA) offered invaluable assistance and
today, almost twenty-five years later, Parents of
Asthmatic/Allergic Children, Inc., continues to provide education,
support and opportunities for advocacy.